'I’m never going to hold a gun again': Sera Alexander sentenced to 10 years in stepfather's shooting death

Police have charged Anthony Hartmann's stepdaughter Sera Alexander with first-degree murder in his death. Their relatives say Hartmann had long been violent, abusive and unpredictable.
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Sera Alexander is handcuffed Friday, April 27, 2018, after being sentenced to 10 years in prison her on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm causing serious injury in the shooting death of her stepfather, Anthony Hartmann.(Photo: Stephen Gruber-Miller, Stephen Gruber Miller/The Register)Buy Photo

A Des Moines woman will spend up to 10 years in prison for fatally shooting her stepfather last year, a judge said Friday.

Sera Alexander, 30, pleaded guilty in March to charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm causing serious injury in the shooting death of her stepfather, 49-year-old Anthony Hartmann.

Alexander expressed remorse for causing Hartmann's death and her lawyers argued she should receive probation, citing her lack of prior criminal history and the fact that she's had no violations during the past 11 months while she awaited trial.

"If I had known that Tony would have been at my house, I would never have gone home and he wouldn’t have died that day," Alexander told the court. "I’m never going to hold a gun again and I never, ever want to. And I know his family misses him dearly and for that I’m truly sorry."

But District Court Judge Scott Rosenberg handed down a prison sentence during the court proceeding Friday afternoon at the Drake Legal Clinic.

"It was avoidable. It was tragic," he said.

He sentenced Alexander to 10 years on the firearm charge and five years on the manslaughter charge, but both sentences will run concurrently, so Alexander won't spend more than 10 years behind bars.

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Sera Alexander apologizes Friday, April 27, 2018, during her sentencing in Des Moines for the fatal shooting of her stepfather, Anthony Hartmann. "If I had known that Tony would have been at my house I would never have gone home and he wouldn't have died that day," she said.
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Stephen Gruber Miller/The Register

Sera Alexander is handcuffed Friday, April 27, 2018, after being sentenced to 10 years in prison her on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm causing serious injury in the shooting death of her stepfather, Anthony Hartmann.
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Stephen Gruber Miller/The Register

Sera Alexander is escorted out of the courtroom after being sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm causing serious injury Friday, April 27, 2018, in Des Moines.
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Stephen Gruber Miller/The Register

Sera Alexander was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday, April 27, 2018, on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm causing serious injury in the shooting death of her stepfather, Anthony Hartmann, last year.
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Stephen Gruber Miller/The Register

Sera Alexander speaks Friday, April 27, 2018, during her sentencing on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm causing serious injury. "I'm never going to hold a gun again and I never, ever want to," she said.
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Stephen Gruber Miller/The Register

Sera Alexander is handcuffed after being sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless use of a firearm causing serious injury Friday, April 27, 2018, in Des Moines.
Stephen Gruber-Miller, Stephen Gruber Miller/The Register

The lesson in this case is that "domestic violence creates not only ripples, it creates a tsunami of trauma," Alexander's lawyer, Montgomery Brown, said in court as he argued she should receive probation. Brown declined to comment following the sentencing.

Rosenberg said he understood those circumstances and took them into account in handing down the sentence. But those mitigating factors don't give Alexander the right to do what she did, he said.

"You’ve accepted responsibility — and I wholeheartedly agree that you have — but now you must also accept accountability," Rosenberg said.

Hartmann's mother and sister gave emotional statements in court, describing the impact his loss has had on their family.

"I will forever carry the scars seeing the image of my brother lying face down on a cold, damp, hard cement floor, whose last moments on this earth were crawling to a corner, hurt, in pain, bleeding from his face and his body, only trying to flee his aggressor," said Lisa Blevins, Hartmann's younger sister.

Alexander had other options besides going upstairs to get her gun and then confronting Hartmann in the basement, his family said.

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The murder trial for Sera Alexander is under way Monday, March 5, 2018, at DrakeÕs Legal Clinic in Des Moines, Iowa.
Sera Alexander is facing a bench trial for a second-degree murder charge after she shot her stepfather last year. She tried to claim stand your ground but the judge said she couldnÕt since the crime happened before the law went into effect.
Rodney White/The Register

Defense attorneys F. Montgomery Brown, right, and Jamie Deremiah, left, with Sera Alexander Monday, March 5, 2018, at DrakeÕs Legal Clinic in Des Moines, Iowa.
Sera Alexander is facing a bench trial for a second-degree murder charge after she shot her stepfather last year. She tried to claim stand your ground but the judge said she couldnÕt since the crime happened before the law went into effect.
Rodney White/The Register

After the sentencing, Blevins said she felt like justice had been served. She said it's been difficult for her and her family to remain silent while negative stories were shared about Hartmann. He was the kind of person who would go out of his way to help someone fix their car or repair their home, with no expectation of receiving something in return, she said. She hopes he'll be remembered for those things, as well.

"He was a good person and he had a good heart and he was always there for so many and I wanted him to be remembered for that, not just all the bad," she said.

Assistant Polk County Attorney Kevin Hathaway said the sentence is a fair outcome that took into account all the factors and "sends a clear message to her and everyone else that this is just not the right way to handle these kinds of disputes."

"We were prepared to go forward under either law and we think we had a pretty good argument even under that newer kind of loosened self-defense law that what she did wasn't necessary under the circumstances," Hathaway said.

Sera Alexander stands during her murder trial March 7, 2018, at Drake's Legal Clinic in Des Moines, Iowa. Sera Alexander is facing a bench trial for a second-degree murder charge after she shot her stepfather last year.
Rodney White/The Register